Inquiry Rips Cuban-american

Leader Accused Of Tampering With Radio Marti Operations

July 23, 1995|The New York Times

A federal investigation into Radio Marti - a government-financed station that broadcasts to Cuba - has found that Cuban-American leader Jorge Mas Canosa improperly interfered with its operations, slanting its news coverage and influencing personnel decisions, officials familiar with the report said.

The report was prepared by the inspector general of the U.S. Information Agency. It details how Mas has systematically interfered in Radio Marti's operations and said that the radio station has improperly retaliated against employees who protested such manipulation, officials said.

Administration officials said Mas, as chairman of Radio Marti's advisory board, is supposed to provide general advice to the White House about Radio Marti and Television Marti, but he is not supposed to meddle in personnel decisions or day-to-day operations. The stations are federally financed networks broadcasting to Cuba.

The inspector general began preparing the report months ago after a senior Radio Marti news analyst said that the network's management was seeking to dismiss him after he protested that the station's news director was trying to censor his analyses and was broadcasting biased news coverage.

Mas broke with the Clinton administration in May after its decision to return Cuban boat people, but administration officials said that the inspector general's report is in no way a response to that rupture.

In recent months, State Department officials and Joseph Duffey, director of the U.S. Information Agency, which is the parent organization of the networks, have accused Radio Marti of inaccurate reporting and of advancing Mas's political agenda while attacking Clinton administration policy.

Mas's defenders say the report is an effort by his enemies to pillory Mas, who as chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation is widely viewed as the nation's most powerful Cuban American.

"This is all part of a very long-standing campaign of political harassment of the office of Cuba Broadcasting," the agency that oversees Radio Marti and Television Marti, said Jose Cardenas, director of the Washington office of the Cuban American National Foundation. "Jorge Mas has many political enemies in this town who may have latched onto to this device to take a chunk out of his hide."